Above my "4" is a dollar. I have a US keyboard (different keyboards do exist).
It's easy to see how the
daalder (originally from
Thaler, a coin around the Hanze cities), worth ƒ1,50 became a
dollar: through Manhattan and Albany of course.
Did you know that the US and the Netherlands were among the few having both a 5 cts and a quarter coin? And a 2.50 note (the
rijksdaalder indeed) as well. Do you stll have that Note, BTW?
When the Euro was invented, they used the "clever" adding series (1, 2, 5, 10 cts, etc.) because indeed you need the least coins that way to make them add up to any amount (for ages, that series was also used for weighing). That is: if you happen to have every coin you need in your pocket.
For many, many, many years the real trading nations knew that there's also a
subtractive series: you pay five cents by giving a quarter and get two 10cts pieces (called
dubbeltjes in Dutch - from double = 2 dimes) in return. We have lost that possibility now.
We lost more: the dubbeltje was a
specific nickle coin, easy to spot in your pocket, wallet, hand. Now all euro coins look alike (different sizes, of course). People still have to
read the coins they are paying with!
Don't forget we're Dutch! We are indeed reading them before handing the dough over.
Cees
